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Grimlock more than lives up to the reputation of his Tyrannosaurus Rex mode. Ill-tempered, powerful, and always ready
for a fight, he loves to throw his weight around. He likes the way the ground shakes as he stomps around,
and the way people scatter when he roars. He's happiest on Dinobot island, where he can stomp and roar to his Spark's
content, shattering trees with his tail, and breathing jets of flame into the sky. Every once in a while, though,
he prefers to find the biggest, most powerful Decepticon he can, and smash its chassis to pieces.

I will never forget Botcon 2007. One of the most vivid memories I have, aside from the reveal of Transformers Universe,
was the unveiling of actual footage from the newest Transformers television show Transformers Animated. I stared in
disbelief as Optimus Prime looked like some rejected villain from Teen Titans. Why was Hasbro incapable of making a
good cartoon?

Nearly a year has passed since I first saw footage of Transformers Animated and thankfully my initial snap fanboy judgment
proved inaccurate. The series so far has provided some truly excellent episodes (Along Came a Spider, Thrill of the Hunt,
Rise of the Constructicons) with character development and writing not seen since Beast Wars. The highly stylized nature
of the character designs take some getting used to, especially after Armada, Energon, and Cybertronís blockier updates of G1.
The more fluid take on Transformers has one immediate upgrade: the action sequences. Fight scenes crackle with energy.
Gone are the days of G1 where an Autobot shoots at a Decepticon and then hides behind a rock, and then the Decepticon
returns fire and either hits said rock or misses completely. Whenever a cartoon makes me say something like
"Good move, Prowl " the animators are doing something right.

The quality of Transformers Animated means there was no chance I was going to miss out on purchasing the newest action
figures. Good cartoons sell toys. On Friday night, friend of the Preserve and infrequent contributor Dan instant
messaged me that Animated had been released to our newly discovered retail location, which will remain undisclosed.
Fifteen minutes later Dan showed up at my house, and we were off. The store seemed to have just shelved the new
Animated product. The only item that we did not see was Bumblebee. Perhaps he will be the hardest deluxe class
item to find? This could be the case due to his prominence in the live action feature and his general popularity
among Transformers Animatedís target audience. I picked up Grimlock, Lugnut, and Ratchet with Dan selecting Grimlock,
Starscream, and Lockdown.

There is a simple reason that both myself and Dan bought Grimlock, "Me Grimlock kick butt!" Nothing is cooler on
the planet than a T-Rex that turns into a robot. Of the 2 modes, the Tyranosaurus Rex is the weaker.

This is not
to say that it is bad. Grimlock looks identical to his animated counterpart which is a good thing. Grimlockís
transformation is a homage to his G1 transformation. His tail splits in half, the back of the dinosaur divides
in half to become the robot legs, the dinosaur legs become the robot arms, and the dinosaur head flips back to
reveal the robot head. Robot mode is easily the best version of Grimlock. He looks muscular but not exaggerated.
Ball joints in the hips and shoulders, along with cut knees, hands, forearms and a cut waist and neck round out
his articulation.

Grimlock also has a gimmick that does not get in the way of his transformation or poseability.
Place his awesome fire sword into his right hand, and twist it to make additional spring loaded flames pop out of
the sword. I couldnít get this to work properly on mine so your mileage may vary. Lastly, Grimlock has blue
light piping in the back of his head that gives him blue eyes when a light is shined nearby.

Grimlock is a great toy. This review was challenging to compose only because Grimlock sat nearby and every so
often I was strongly compelled to pick him up. Now the wait begins for his other two buddies Snarl and Swoop
to make their Transformers Animated toy debut. Highly Recommended.